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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23463502">Tattooed Your Name On My Heart</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Athetos/pseuds/Athetos'>Athetos</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Modern AU, and also nervous, but mostly gay, glimmer is a tattoo artist and adora is very gay</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 16:00:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,202</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23463502</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Athetos/pseuds/Athetos</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After months of psyching herself up, Adora is finally ready to get her first tattoo.  She was not, however, ready for the artist to be this beautiful.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adora/Glimmer (She-Ra)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>51</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Tattooed Your Name On My Heart</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>For Day 6 of Glimadora Week, I chose the prompt Modern AU.  And what's better than a tattoo artist trope?</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Adora sat in her parked car outside Bright Moon tattoo parlor, nervously bouncing her leg.  She had wanted a tattoo for years, but had always come up with excuses to avoid getting inked - things like “it might affect my future career”, or “what if I get it and then hate it right after?”  In reality, the truth was that she was frightened of needles.  Just getting her blood drawn caused her face to turn white as paper and her stomach to somersault.  So even though she had considered hundreds of designs at this point, she had never taken the next step of actually talking to an artist.</p><p>Then Huntara came along.  The older woman worked at the same gym as Adora, and she wore sleeveless shirts to show off both her muscular arms, and the artwork adorning them.  She had dozens of traditional designs, ranging from skulls and daggers to dice and hearts, dancing up and down her biceps.  At first, Adora was intimidated by the other trainer, but she quickly realized that Huntara was just a huge teddy bear who told horrible jokes and couldn’t flirt to save her life.  The two became good friends, but it still took weeks before Adora would casually ask her about her tattoos.</p><p>“So… where did you get those done?”</p><p>Huntara flexed her right arm, showing off a beautifully lined red rose.  “Lots of different places, actually.  I really loved the Crimson Waste, but they closed their doors a couple years ago.  A damn shame.  But I found a phenomenal artist at Bright Moon, not far from here, actually.  Her name’s Glimmer, and her work is amazing.  You should check her out.”</p><p>Adora shrugged, a little embarrassed.  “Oh, well, I don’t know if I -”</p><p>Huntara cut her off.  “Doesn’t matter, I’m gonna give you her Instagram anyways.  She has tons of designs uploaded, you could spend hours scrolling through her work.  Just think about it.”  She walked to the counter and grabbed a post-it note, scrawling down a username, before handing it to Adora, and walking off to greet a client who walked through the door.</p><p>Adora had forgotten about the Post-it for a few days, until she was cleaning out her jacket’s pockets and found Huntara’s messy handwritten note.  Opening up her laptop, she decided she had nothing to lose, and pulled up this Glimmer’s instagram, thinking she’d just take a quick peek.</p><p>What was supposed to be a quick peek turned into spending an hour on her account, the blonde overwhelmed by both the quantity and quality of her work.  Huntara was right - she was <i>good.</i>  She had uploads of both the original scanned designs, and photographs of happy patrons showing off their new tats.  Best of all, she had an entire flash sheet of swords.  From an early age, Adora had been obsessed with them, and they still held great meaning to her as an adult.  She had long ago decided that if she ever did get a tattoo, she’d get a sword, with an ornate hilt and a gleaming blade.  </p><p>And she had found the perfect design, flickering on her computer screen.</p><p>It took an entire week before she worked up the nerve to message Glimmer about making an appointment, but when she did the artist responded within an hour, bubbly and excited, happy because the sword Adora chose was one of her favorite designs and she hadn’t had the chance to do it yet.</p><p>And now, another week later, Adora was in the parking lot, desperately trying to summon the courage she needed to walk inside the parlor.  She wanted this, a lot.  She’s wanted this for a long, long time.  She could do this.</p><p>Finally, the blonde left her car, shutting the door behind her with a decisive finality.  This was going to happen, and there was no turning back now.</p><p>A man in a heart-covered crop top greeted her from behind the counter as she walked in.  “Hello!  Do you have an appointment, or are you here to look at designs?”</p><p>Adora managed to keep the stutter out of her voice when she answered him.  “I have an appointment.  With Glimmer.  I’m Adora.”  </p><p>The boy checked his computer screen for a moment, then turned back to her with a grin.  “Awesome!  She’s actually all set for you already!  I’ll lead you to her room!”  He stepped out from behind the counter and walked down the hall, motioning for Adora to follow.</p><p>He brought her to a room at the very end of the hallway, the door already open.  “Hey, Glim, your next appointment is here!”  He then turned to face the blonde and saluted.  “Good luck!  I know you’ll love it!”</p><p>Adora hesitantly walked into the room, and was welcomed by a short woman with fluffy pink hair and more piercings in her ears than Adora could count.  “Hello!  You must be Adora!”  The girl held her hand out, and Adora took it, noticing how soft and small her hands were compared to her own calloused palms.  </p><p>“You can take a seat right there”, Glimmer nodded towards the reclining chair in the corner of the small room.  “This is your first time, right?”</p><p>Adora nodded, bobbing her head a little more forcefully than necessary.  “Y-yeah, first time.  Um, I’m actually kind of afraid of needles…”  She felt silly when she said it out loud, but it was too late to take the words back now.</p><p>“That’s okay, a lot of people are!  I promise I’ll make it as easy and painless as possible!”  Glimmer said this with a wink, and when she turned to grab some of the tools she’d need for the job, Adora was able to glimpse pastel pink wings inked onto her upper back, visible through the sides of her purple tank top.</p><p>Adora felt her face heat up.  <i>I had no idea she’d be this damn cute… I’m way too gay for this.</i></p><p>She sat in the parlor chair, trying to relax her body and take deep breaths.  She was feeling about five different types of nervousness right now, and she had read that being tense only made the tattoo hurt even more.  Unfortunately, relaxing was not Adora’s strong suit.</p><p>Glimmer wheeled her own chair over.  “Do you still want it on your forearm?”</p><p>Adora took a deep breath.  “Yes.”</p><p>“Left or right?”</p><p>“Left.”  </p><p>“Okay, can you hold it out for me so I can clean the area?”  </p><p>Adora held her left arm out, the inside facing up.  She had already shaved the hairs in the vicinity of where she wanted the tattoo, knowing it would make Glimmer’s work a lot easier.  The sparkly girl straightened her arm out, and swabbed the area with cotton soaked in rubbing alcohol.  </p><p>“You have really muscular arms.”  Glimmer blushed, a pink tint spreading across her cheeks and over the bridge of her nose.  “Do you work out often?”</p><p>Adora giggled.  “I’m a trainer at the Etheria Gym.  I’ve been working there for a couple years now.  Um, actually, a coworker of mine recommended you.  Huntara.”  </p><p>Glimmer’s face lit up.  “Oh, Huntara!  She comes in every other month or so.  She’s awesome.  I hope I can be half that cool, one day.”  </p><p>Adora spoke before she could think.  “I don’t know, I think, you’re mega cool yourself.”  <i>Ugh, really?  That’s so embarrassing!</i></p><p>Glimmer’s blush deepened.  “Thanks, Adora, that’s really sweet.  I’ve been thinking of getting back into an exercise routine, maybe I’ll have to stop by sometime and see if either of you are working.”  Having finished cleaning the taller girl’s arm, she reached over to the table and grabbed the stencil of the design she had printed out earlier that day.</p><p>She hovered it over the middle of Adora’s forearm.  “Is this okay?  Do you want it smaller, bigger, to the left, to the right?”</p><p>“Actually, right there is perfect.  Good size, too.  I love it.”  Adora could feel her tension slowly draining away.  Having a cute girl fussing over you would do that.</p><p>“Okay, awesome!”  Glimmer swabbed the area again, this time with soap and water, and then carefully aligned the stencil before pressing it against her skin.  After a moment, she pulled the paper away, and a blue outline of the sword was transferred to Adora’s arm.  </p><p>“Whoa… that’s really cool.”  Adora smiled.</p><p>Glimmer grinned back.  “Yeah, it saves a lot of time compared to having to trace the outline yourself.  Makes things a lot easier.”  She wheeled herself over to the table.  “Okay, I’m going to prep the inks.  Everything follows safety guidelines, so there’s minimal risk of infection or anything otherwise going wrong.”</p><p>Glimmer proceeded to explain the tools at her disposal, while Adora watched her remove sterile needles from their pouches and place them inside the small machine she’d be using, and fill caps with ink and a cup with distilled water so she’d be able to swap colors as she needed.</p><p>“I’m just going to rub some ointment over the stencil so it doesn’t rub off, then I’ll be able to start, alright?”  She met Adora’s gray eyes.  “Are you ready?”  </p><p>Adora, finding herself significantly less anxious than she was earlier, replied “Yes, I’m ready.”  </p><p>Glimmer smiled.  “Good!”  She wiped down Adora’s arm for the third time, then grabbed the tattoo machine.  “This will probably hurt at first, but the pain should fade away to a numbness before long.  Try not to move… if you need me to stop, just let me know, okay?”</p><p>Adora exhaled, letting her body relax as much as she could.  “Okay, I understand.”</p><p>“You’re gonna do great.”  Glimmer winked at her, once again.</p><p>Adora’s blush returned to her cheeks.  <i>It’s not fair… she has to know how gay I am at this point!</i></p><p>The machine on, making an industrial buzzing noise, Glimmer pressed the needle against the blonde’s skin.  Adora bit her lip, the pain bright and annoying, but not overwhelming.  Sure enough, after only a minute or so, the pain dulled to a repetitive throbbing, and she found her breathing settled.  </p><p>“You doing okay, hon?”  Glimmer looked at her client out of the corner of her vision.</p><p>“Yeah, I’m, I’m actually doing good.”  <i>Hon?  Did she call me hon?</i></p><p>“I knew you’d be fine.”  </p><p>After what seemed like forever (but was probably only ten minutes or so), the outline of the sword was done, and Glimmer started to fill in the outline with color.  When the needle would start again, the pain would roar back briefly, then once again fade into the background.  Adora found herself staring at the artist, watching her stick her tongue out slightly as she focused on her work.  It was absolutely adorable.</p><p>“Okay, you’re all done!”  Glimmer set the machine down and clapped her hands together.  “What do you think?”  </p><p>Adora looked at the sword on her arm - it was perfect.  The lines were pristine and the colors were eye-popping.  She couldn’t have asked for a better tattoo.</p><p>“It’s amazing, I love it!”  She answered truthfully.  “Thank you so much, Glimmer!”</p><p>Glimmer looked flustered.  “I’m so happy for you!  Do you mind if I take a photo for my instagram?”</p><p>“Yeah, of course, go for it!”  </p><p>After snapping a couple photos on her phone, Glimmer carefully bandaged her arm.  “I’m sorry, the bandages suck, but they’re necessary as it heals.  I’m going to give you a pamphlet on aftercare.  It’s pretty easy stuff, so you shouldn’t have any issues, but if you do, just call or message me if you have any questions!”  She helped the taller woman out of the chair.</p><p>Glimmer grabbed a few papers and scribbled something down on one of them, before putting them in a small baggie and handing them to Adora.  “You can pay Bow at the front desk.  Um… also... “  The artist rubbed the back of her neck with her hand.  “I put my personal phone number in there too.  Not for, like, professional reasons, but… like… if you ever want to hang out, or get a coffee… You can call me.  I mean, I don’t even know if you’re… but…”  Glimmer trailed off, her entire face rose-colored.</p><p>Adora felt her stomach twist into knots and a blush flared up on her cheeks.  “No, that’s, that’s totally fine!  Like… more than fine.  I mean, um… uh… I’ll call you.  That sounds really nice, Glimmer.”  </p><p>The shorter woman smiled, her eyes bright with relief.  “Oh, that’s wonderful!  I was hoping I wasn’t… you know… but it’s okay!  That’s great!  Tell Huntara I said hi!  Um… see you this weekend?  Maybe?”</p><p>Adora moved towards the open door, her heart doing backflips in her rib cage.  “Yeah, it’s… it’s a date!”  </p><p>Neither girl moved, just stood there awkwardly, until someone cleared their throat from the hallway.  “I take it everything went well?  I can cash you out now.”  Bow was by the doorway, smiling.  </p><p>Both women snapped out of their gay giddiness.  Adora left the room, waving to Glimmer before she left.  “Thank you!!  I’ll call you!”  </p><p>“You better!” Glimmer answered, laughing softly.</p><p>As Adora paid for her tattoo, all she could think of was, <i>God, she’s so cute. I’m so glad I listened to Huntara.</i></p>
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